DOES GOD GIVE AND TAKE?

QUESTION AND ANSWER SESSION WITH PASTOR CHRIS OYAKHILOME.

DOES GOD GIVE AND TAKE?

QUESTION: Why is it that every time God blesses me with money, I lose something else? I recently got a refund on my university fees and we have since lost 2 cars worth that much. They both just ceased and were written off. There are other small things of the same nature that happened in my life, or is it just coincidence? From: Albertina (UK)

ANSWER
First, from the perspective of a self-examination because the Bible says for us to examine ourselves, says let a man examine himself. So, I will like to read something similar to you from the book of Haggai 1:3-10 “Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith the… You when God blesses you on one hand, you lose something about the same value on the other hand and you want to know why. Well, am! There are two important things. One would be a self-examination, I am going to look at that with you and the other will be dealing with the situation yourself.

First, from the perspective of a self-examination because the Bible says for us to examine ourselves, says let a man examine himself. So, I will like to read something similar to you from the book of Haggai 1:3-10 “Then came the word of the Lord by Haggai the prophet, saying, Is it time for you, O ye, to dwell in your ceiled houses, and this house lie waste? Now therefore thus saith theord of hosts; consider your ways. Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes. Thus saith the Lord of hosts; consider your ways. Go up to the mountain, and bring wood, and build the house; and I will take pleasure in it, and I will be glorified, saith the Lord. Ye looked for much, and, lo, it came to little; and when ye brought it home, I did blow upon it. Why? Saith the Lord of hosts because of mine house that is waste, and ye run everyman unto his own house. Therefore the heaven over you is stayed from dew, and the earth is stayed from her fruit”.

You read this, you will just understand a situation in those days with the children of Israel. He said you are earning and putting it into a bag with holes, this happen to many people. You can see the blessing of God, God is actually showing them that he is for them. So, they get blessed but they keep losing. And like this gentle man said or a lady here, “I get blessed by God and then I lose just as much”. What is wrong? I said the first part of it is from the perspective of self-examination. What are you not doing right? Now for this people who were earning and putting into a bag with holes, getting blessed and losing the blessings. God said; the reason is my house that is lying waste. He said they are concerned about your own thing, what about the things of the house of God. So, the first thing you do is take the things of God seriously become a partner with God in his number one job of reaching others. Don’t just be concerned about you and your family, you got to become concerned about the things of God. That is very very important, so, support the work of the Lord. Now, if you study further on this particular chapter Haggai 1 where we were reading, if you keep reading on to the end of it, you will find that the prophet got the people to reconcile their behavior with God and change their attitude and they decided that they were going to build the house of God. And so, the blessings will flow continually rather than earning and putting it a bag with holes. But, the second part of it is this, let’s assume this was alright. Let’s assume you were doing it right, there is another part.

I want to read from Malachi 3:8-11 “Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. Ye are cursed with a curse: for ye have robbed me, even this whole nation. Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it. And I will rebuke the devourer for your sakes, and he shall not destroy the fruits of your ground; neither shall your vine cast her fruit before the time in the field, saith the Lord of hosts”. Now look at that, he said bring in all the tithes and offerings to the house of God. And then he says I will pour you out a blessing, so now, if we assume that you are handling this part properly. You are giving into the work of the Lord, you are concerned about the things of God. And then, you are participating like this as you should and yet the devourer is there. Now, there is something you got to do, you know at the time of this writing in the book of Malachi. The Bible lets us understand that Jesus hadn’t come, satan had not been defeated and God had to rebuke the devourer himself. The devourer is satan and he is behind all the waste. He’s called the waster, he is behind all the waste and all the destruction and all the loses that we experience. He is behind them, he is remotely behind this things and he hasn’t been defeated yet and God had to be the one to rebuke that devourer.

Today, when you fulfil your part, you have the authority to rebuke that devourer. So, if you are participating in the things of God and you are supporting the work of the Lord, giving into the work of the Lord, giving as you should in your tithes and in your offerings. Then, you can stand against the devourer yourself, don’t wait for God to say something to the devourer. You are the one to do that, you are the one today but it will not work as long as you are a lawful captive. And Make those words “A Lawful Captive”. Now, I will just read you a little portion from the New Testament in 2 Corinthians 10:3-6 “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ; And having in a readiness to revenge all disobedience, when your obedience is fulfilled”. You see that is the principle, that is the principle, it shows that God can take action or the word of God will work on your behalf when your own obedience is fulfilled. You cannot rebuke the devourer when you are in disobedience. You see that, you got to function according to God’s word, if you are going to function in authority as well. So, if the devourer is going to be listening to you, you better be listening to God yourself. So, that’s what it’s all about!

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